During the 60's it was the norm for British groups to present their best attepmt at interpreting black American R&B -- The early Beatles, Who, Stones, Pretty Things, Animals, etc. fit this description, and the Small Faces led by Steve Marriot were no exception. This album, which was the group's last cohesive effort before splitting up, took a different approach. It's as if the band was saying, we're a happy bunch of English blokes and we want the world to know. So there's a lot less of the compelling soul-stirring Marriot vocals that defined the band's early sound here, and more direct Cockney influence. Still, it's a musically diverse album. There's some good hard rock in songs like "Rollin' Over" and "Afterglow", mixed with the silliness of "Lazy Sunday" and "Happy Days Toystown". Instrumentally the band steps up to the plate and hits a home run. Marriot's guitar playing is more assertive than ever and he cranks out some killer soloes. Check out "Song of A Baker". Ronnie Lane's singing is superb on a few numbers, the best possibly being the aforementioned song and "The Journey". Drummer Kenny Jones' playing is solid throughout -- his powerhouse drumming was the group's secret weapon. And Ian McLagan shines on keyboards throughout. He was really the groups "lead" instrumentalist and this album was no exception. His composition and vocal on "Long Agos And World's Apart" fit in perfectly, as does Marriot's phased guitar solo. Side two is very British indeed, with the warped Cockney narrative between tunes tying the storyline of "Happiness Stan" together. Not really a rock opera, more like a Mother Goose fable. The concept here seems to be that the English can truly rock out, and on their own terms not just America's. It's a shame that the band broke up following the peak of their creativity. Marriot's Humble Pie and the Rod Stewart-led Faces never came close to matching the originality and fine line between "innocence and naughtiness" that typified the music of the Small Faces.